19 February 2014

This is another post where I'm cheating a bit -- this is a windows program running in wine.

Let me explain. Sometimes you absolutely need to get a task done -- I use linux at work and I can't not do something just because I can't write/find a piece of software that does it for me. Science is the goal, and the route there is immaterial. So sometimes you need to be pragmatic about your software choices.

I much prefer to use free and open source software since it allows me to keep a copy of the source code which I can recompile in case the prebuilt binary suddenly won't work with a future version of debian. Having the source makes me feel more secure in the assertion that it's worth my time learning how to use that piece of software.

Second to that, I prefer native linux software -- although unfortunately 'native' here often means 'written in java', and -- while not knowing too much about java -- from a user point of view java software tends to be comparatively slow to load and run. Certainly it appears slower than a comparable C/C++ program.

As a last resort, I can accept having to run a windows binary in wine. It doesn't make me happy, and often there are small, niggling issues associated with it -- but if it can get the job done, so be it.

Note that I'm unwilling to actually run a native windows program on a native windows installation -- one has to have some standards...

Either way, this is why I look at windows programs as well for drawing structures and processing NMR spectra.

18 February 2014

I'm cheating here: this isn't a program for linux. Instead we're running a windows program under wine, which is not ideal. On the other hand, it's so easy to do that it's worth exploring as an option to 'pure' linux offerings.

In conclusion I must say that I'm fairly happy with this piece of software. I haven't used it for production purposes, so I can't vouch for it spitting out reliable data though. It's definitely worth exploring though.

Getting started:
If you set up a e.g. chroot to build 1.6 you don't need to set up a new chroot to build 1.7. In that case, skip the set-up step below and instead re-enter your existing chroot like this:

Replace 'beryllium' with the name your host system (it's just to suppress error messages)Building Wine
While still in the chroot, continue (the i386 is ok; don't worry about it -- you don't actually need it):

Checkinstall takes a little while (In particular this step: 'Copying files to the temporary directory...').

**********************************************************************
Done. The new package has been saved to
/home/sandbox/tmp/wine-1.7.0/wine_1.7.0-1_i386.deb
You can install it in your system anytime using:
dpkg -i wine_1.7.0-1_i386.deb
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